ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Emergency Physicians Monthly released today the results of an independent reader survey on depression and suicide among emergency physicians. The issues addressed in the survey ranged from personally experiencing depression to suspecting it in a colleague to the likelihood of seeking treatment or reporting depression to regulatory authorities. The findings, published in the March issue of Emergency Physicians Monthly, are as alarming as they are poignant. Said one respondent:
“I have had the pistol in my mouth and would have pulled the trigger, save for leaving my child without a parent. Does anyone honestly think that anyone in our position would report this type of thought to any board? Go under the microscope? Lose our ability to provide for our families? For as much hype as is given to diagnosis and treatment of depression, state boards and everyone else hold their physicians to a different standard. If I were a plumber or musician, I would just go see my psychiatrist, take medication, and go on with my life, better off for having done so. We are held to an impossible double standard.”
Although the sample size was small (108), 73% of respondents reported having experienced depression, and 41% of them did not seek treatment. 48% considered harming themselves in the course of the condition. 85% did not report the illness to regulatory authorities, several noting privately that to do so might jeopardize their ability to continue to practice.
The U.S. loses, on average, an entire medical school each year to suicide, almost always the result of untreated depression. It was in response to this fact, as well as the suicides of several colleagues over the past year, that Dr. Louise Andrew, an emergency physician and litigation stress specialist, began to investigate and write about the hidden problem of physician depression. The final survey and analysis was a collaborative effort between Dr. Andrew, the winner of the American College of Emergency Physicians’ prestigious Mills Award, and Logan Plaster of Emergency Physicians Monthly.
Says Dr. Andrew, “Untreated depression is a problem which crosses all specialty lines. Given that overall, male physicians have a 70% increased likelihood of completing suicide over nonphysicians, and females an even greater risk, the results of this limited survey clearly demonstrate the urgent need for further study, more awareness of physician depression and suicide, and preventive intervention. This needless suffering and resulting waste of human potential is a travesty. It should not remain a hidden secret of our profession.”
One quick mechanism of providing support and education was to set up a website for affected individuals and others to learn more. The site (www.black-bile.com) is in its early stages.
The survey article is the cover story in the March issue of Emergency Physicians Monthly, and can be found online at www.EPMonthly.com. The survey and prior articles are also available at EPMonthly.com.
Emergency Physicians Monthly is an independent publication dedicated to strengthening and educating the emergency medicine community through clinical and personally-relevant content.